Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have agreed to block ads that are commercially promoting tests that determine the sex of unborn children, according to The New Indian Express. The media outlet reports that the local government told the bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice C. Nagappan Monday that "certain keywords stands" will remain blocked. The search engines will comply with the provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Determination Test (PC-PNDT) Ac, put in place to monitor the fall in the ratio of female children in various parts of the country,

"Focus on the user and all else will follow," which means the user experience on YouTube dictates the ad technology on the video site. In the latest Think with Google, David Mogensen, Google's head of YouTube ads marketing, sits down with YouTube UX leads Javier Bargas-Avila and Scott Hines to  gain insights on what type of consumer data powers the evolution of the site's ads.

Venture Beat reports that AdStage announced Monday a $2 million funding round from Verizon Ventures to establish a product suite around marketing technology. AdStage -- primarily a social advertising management service for small- and medium-sized businesses -- collects historical data such as keywords, ads, demographics, and competitor data to provide recommendations and insights based on the marketer's company and its competitors.

In the wake of releasing a new gif search in iOS 10’s iMessage, Apple is scrambling to ban certain search terms, along with inappropriate images from searches. “Some obviously NSFW searches like ‘fisting,’ ‘blowjob,’ and ‘terrorist how-to’ were seemingly banned right from launch, but other terms are being pulled as this post is being written,” Gizmodo reports.

LinkedIn has announced that users can now use hashtags to search and share content on the site. The feature is available only on LinkedIn's mobile app, but will be rolled out to all platforms. LinkedIn says to add a hashtag to the post and it will be automatically available for public searches.

Microsoft has been working on building the home of the future at least since 2000. Now the Redmond, Wash., company has found a partner in Liebherr' appliances division to develop ‘SmartDeviceBox’, a communication module that connects Liebherr's refrigerators and freezers to the internet. The frig will have internal cameras and deep learning algorithms similar to those of Cortana, Microsoft’s personal assistant. The frig will monitor what products are needed in the home.

About 54.7% of U.K. Internet users ages 18 and up didn’t recognize paid-search ads on Google’s search results page, according to eMarketer, citing a study from search marketing specialist Varn. Not only did 45.3% recognize the ads, but only 8.4% clicked on them. Those ages 25 to 34 say they recognize the ads, but don't click on them, compared with only 10.2% who say they recognize the ads and do click on them. The data broken down by age looks at U.K. Internet users who recognize or don't recognize paid-search ads and whether or not they click on them.

Rand Fishkin discusses why marketers should have a broader vision when it comes to knowing what type of content to create. Don't always write ans use extremely focused content, Fishkin explains. Instead, think about content that potentially directly converts some customers, helps earn links and press mentions, reaches new audiences, and grows the brands awareness and authority. Fishkin tells marketers how that's done.